The Most Hyped Digital Currency Since Bitcoin Has Officially Launchedhttp://www.businessinsider.com/ethereum-launches-ether-2014-7/comments
en-usWed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500Sun, 02 Aug 2015 18:40:23 -0400Rob Wilehttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/53cff2616bb3f78976da790aVitalik ButerinWed, 23 Jul 2014 13:35:29 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53cff2616bb3f78976da790a
Thanks for the article!
A few points:
1. I am 20, not 21.
2. It's more accurate to think of ether as a token, sort of like quarters you put into an arcade machine, than a currency or an investment (except that the number of games in the arcade is potentially unlimited as anyone can make their own). The applications really are the most exciting part, and I'm looking forward to seeing development focus switch to apps once the client software becomes more stable and closer to launch quality.
3. Although the comments from our friends in the New York financial scene are quite accurate, it's also worth mentioning that there are many quasi-financial and non-financial applications for Ethereum. For example, decentralized name registries are a big one, as are decentralized autonomous organizations (a very interesting and science fictiony thing in its own right, and one that I am becoming increasingly convinced is actually viable).http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53cfe8d2ecad042305da7908Joseph LubinWed, 23 Jul 2014 12:54:42 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53cfe8d2ecad042305da7908
Other than the use of the term "investors" it was a very nice article. Thank you.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53cfe7ed6da811625608951dJoseph LubinWed, 23 Jul 2014 12:50:53 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53cfe7ed6da811625608951d
> As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, investors had already bought $2.6 million worth.
Your use of the term "investors" is incorrect and misleading. If you read the documentation regarding the product sale, it will be clear that we are selling a token -- a cryptographic fuel -- that is required for the proper functioning of the distributed computational network. Every computational step and every storage operation on the system requires a small payment of the ether token to fuel execution and ensure that the system doesn't get bogged down and destroyed by infinite loops in code and too-large storage demands.
The product pre-sale is targeted at people and groups interested in acquiring ether to build and distribute decentralized applications, or to pay for their usage. Of if people believe that such a system, if realized and successful, would have public benefits, they can buy ether to support the non-profit project.
But note well: Ownership of an ether token carries no rights of governance and certainly no expectations of dividends.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53cfe388eab8ea9947da7908nik5terWed, 23 Jul 2014 12:32:08 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53cfe388eab8ea9947da7908
I find that most articles, judging by the headlines and approach, are very coin-centric and not "ledger-centric" in their view of this space.
Ethereum is not so much a new "token" but a new ledger (new implementation of the block-chain).
Simply:
Bitcoin = create a tradable coin based on a decentralized ledger - aka the blockchain
(or the flipside, ledger-centric view: there's a coin creating / incentivizing a decentralized ledger, a ledger which can then be used for more than just 'coins')
Ethereum = rebuild that ledger from scratch, make it so it's not just coins but rather generalize it from the start (the fundamental 'unit' being a digitized contract. Build in a Turing complete programming language - meaning you can program 'anything')